Share

A massive mudslide in Oso, Wash., about 60 miles north from Seattle, killed three people on Saturday.

The Seattle Timesreports that rescue teams are still searching and it describes a harrowing scene:

" 'We have people who are yelling for help and we are out there,' Travis Hots, Snohomish County district fire chief, said about 10:30 p.m. 'This is a massive slide, and we are in a very, very fluid and unstable situation ... This is still a rescue mission.'

"With three people known dead, at least six homes destroyed and a state highway severed by the mudslide, officials advised people downstream of the area to evacuate, fearing that further damage could occur.

"Riverside residents between the slide area and Arlington, 15 miles to the west, were advised to leave their homes for the night, because of the danger that the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River could burst through the blockage created by the slide and cause immediate, severe flooding."

The AP reports that the slide was 135 feet wide and 180 feet deep and completely covered a part of State Route 530.